A student makes the following argument: "A price floor reduces the amount of a product that consumers buy because it keeps the price above the competitive market equilibrium. A price ceiling, on the other hand, increases the amount of the product that consumers buy because it keeps the price below the competitive market equilibrium." Do you agree with the student's reasoning?

The answer is: Yes, the student is right.

Explanation:

Some industries, especially agriculture, work on some unique ways due to their complexity. For instance, the government sets the price floor and the price ceiling for the main crops produced in the country. In order to do this, the government owns and manages huge warehouses and silos.

When the production of crops is higher than usual, the price of that crop will tend to drop because of excessive supply. The government then buys the crop to put a price floor and takes the overstock to its warehouses. That enables the government to control the market so that farmers get a "fair price" for their crops. If the government didn't do anything, farmers would lose a lot of money and their customers (agricultural corporations) would probably overstock. That at the same time would cause further problems in the future due to lower future sales because the agricultural corporations companies are overstocked.

When farmers have a bad year due to drought or flooding, their production levels will fall, so the price of the crops would rise due to excessive demand. Then the government sells the crops it had stored previously in its warehouses to put a price ceiling. If the government didn't do this then a lot of poor people would not be able to buy enough quantities of food.